Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 187: Mercenary Guild

Carriages featured comforts, but cultivators remained faster and possessed far greater stamina.

Liam and Melissa crossed the forest in no time and pressed through the grassland beyond, heading in a straight line to their destination.

As a mortal, Liam had seen mere trips between nearby villages as insurmountable, demanding utmost preparation and wariness.

However, becoming a proper cultivator had changed Liam’s perspective, even revealing details he hadn’t noticed before.

The Outer Circles were littered with small villages and towns. Mortals weren’t exactly thriving, but they were everywhere.

Naturally, mortals would often go all their lives without leaving their birthplaces, also seeing trips outside as too dangerous and expensive to tackle.

Yet, cultivators had no such problems. Their stamina and speed outclassed horses, and mere animals couldn’t pose any danger. Time also had a different meaning to them to the point that Liam began to see most of those settlements as nearby.

Of course, that new perspective also made Liam view villages and towns as unimportant. Just like the butcher’s home, they belonged to a lower world he had outgrown.

Nevertheless, some of those locations had points of interest. Just like Slygrove had a branch of the Recruiters Guild, Thornvale hosted one of the Mercenary Guild’s buildings, making it Liam and Melissa’s destination.

Thornvale was less than a day away from the Pale Moon Sect at Liam and Melissa’s pace, something they could clear in one go without experiencing any exhaustion.

It was mere running after all, something circulation techniques aided without depleting much Qi. Even when it did, Melissa and Liam’s dantians had already produced enough energy to refill their bodies.

If anything, rather than what would have been a strenuous trip in the past, Liam’s challenges lay elsewhere, even if both were minor and, at times, welcome.

Having Melissa within reach wasn’t something Liam could completely ignore, or ignore at all. That wasn’t their first time traveling together, but it was a first as a couple, and she was just too eye-catching.

Liam literally saw a bright halo following that enchanting figure, calling him in ways he didn’t need to question anymore. Still, he never once fell prey to desire.

Liam’s newfound, reckless resolve had included Melissa. He wanted to do more than kiss her. He felt the need to provide for her, and the imminent mission could be an opportunity to do just that, preventing any distraction.

Actually, that less primal desire joined Liam’s sense of duty toward his Master, adding fire to his resolve.

As for the other challenge, it involved Liam’s self-control. After all, isolated training inside a cave couldn’t compare with proper running through the world.

The trip gave Liam the chance to test his progress and perfect it. He truly did better in real-life situations, and firm confidence built up with every step he took.

As the night was about to descend, traces of civilization appeared inside a short valley between two hills covered in grass. A short, rectangular palisade stretched between the opposite slopes, encircling hundreds of wooden houses.

That wasn’t Liam’s first time visiting a town, but he had never approached one as an official cultivator. Luckily, it seemed Melissa knew what to do, allowing him to follow suit.

The two spear-wielding guards at the town’s gate saw the most unlikely pair calmly approaching. A stunning, albeit sweaty woman and a hooded figure stopped in front of them, filling the atmosphere with a strange tension.

The woman donned pale grey colors and was graceful, like an ethereal fairy. Instead, her companion was clad in black and properly huge, seemingly capable of winning any brawl with ease.

Still, the strange tension remained the most striking aspect. Something about those two figures filled the two guards with dread, and the reaction was instinctive, stemming from their very survival instincts.

One of the guards was a man in his twenties, even relatively new to the job. His brain couldn’t conceive how a figure as beautiful as the young woman could make him experience fear, and everything was ten times worse with the cloaked man.

A feral danger that was almost overwhelming washed over the young guard. A tide of what was pristine pressure radiated from the cloaked man, threatening to suffocate him. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The young guard couldn’t help but look up at the two towers at the open gate’s sides, hoping for support, but his middle-aged companion promptly grabbed his head and lowered it at the newcomers.

"Welcome to Thornvale," The middle-aged guard exclaimed, also lowering his head. "We wish you a pleasant stay."

The young guard couldn’t really follow. It was also late enough for the curfew to begin and to seal the gate, but the two newcomers had disappeared by the time he could straighten himself.

"Sir, why haven’t we-?" The young guard began to ask, only to be promptly interrupted.

"Shut it, greenhorn," The middle-aged guard cursed, keeping his voice down, "Before you kill us all."

"Sir ...," The young guard muttered, whispering, "Were they immortals?"

"Have you ever seen a woman so beautiful?" The middle-aged guard snorted. "And that man ... I shudder just trying to recall it."

The young guard could only agree. His reaction had been out of panic for those exact reasons.

"Greenhorn, learn this if you want to last in this job," The middle-aged guard warned. "When you encounter figures that escape reason, just lower your head and do everything they say."

Liam’s ears captured those whispers as he and Melissa walked down the town’s main road, understanding them. He had experienced similar reactions in the presence of Qi, and it seemed his abundant energy had enhanced whatever aura he leaked.

That became a trend as the duo advanced through the town. Night was descending, so most buildings were closing, but everyone stopped what they were doing at Liam and Melissa’s passage.

It didn’t matter who it was. From elderly shop owners to children running through the streets, chased by their mothers, everyone stopped, often gasping, moving aside, or lowering their heads.

That was the instinctive fear that having Qi circulating through the body triggered. Ignorance played a big role, too, just like it had done with Liam at his first interaction with Carl.

Nevertheless, rare, irksome instances unfolded during that succession of wooden houses.

It didn’t matter if they wore clean or worn-out clothes. Age also wasn’t a factor. Every once in a while, men would overcome their instinctive fears and steal looks at Melissa, turning into prolonged stares when her figure fell into their vision again.

That was normal. Liam had literally seen outer disciples following Melissa around with the same dazed and longing looks as Thornvale’s men.

Yet, for some reason, Liam found the event annoying now. He didn’t like what those looks radiated, urging him to do something akin to marking his territory or shooing them away with a growl.

Actually, a hiss would be more suitable in Liam’s case.

Still, as Liam dealt with what he had yet to learn was jealousy, the pair arrived at a three-story, large building with an emblem featuring two crossed swords above its open entrance.

The stench of booze, sweat, and dirt leaked from the open entrance, as well as brash laughs and loud shouts. The place sounded and smelled no different than a tavern hosting a rowdy crowd, and entering it didn’t change that impression.

Small tables filled half the first floor, while the other half had the innkeeper’s desk and a large board near the wall with tens of open scrolls, drawings, and wooden tablets nailed to it.

The crowd Liam had heard earlier occupied the ale-stained tables. They were all men older than thirty, armed with sheathed swords, knives, or crossbows, arm-guards, other protective gear, and scars occasionally showing past their tattered robes.

Nevertheless, despite those warrior-like appearances, the small crowd only featured mortals, and they reacted in the same way as the previous bystanders at Liam and Melissa’s arrival.

The rowdiness waned, replaced by tense silence. Some warriors froze with their mugs still lifted before lowering them and diverting their gazes.

Meanwhile, a few others kept their eyes on the newcomers, their attention intensifying the longer they focused on Melissa, emboldened by their drunken haze.

Naturally, Melissa kept looking ahead, her face as emotionless as always. Her entire life had been about those vulgar gazes, so much so that her brain barely registered them anymore.

Yet, the experience was new for Liam, sort of, and a noisy licking of lips from a man in the crowd tilted his head in that direction. Also, instead of annoyance, Liam heard a faint hiss rising through his ears.

Liam’s brain failed to make the specific connection, but something told him that he was standing before the world that had hurt Melissa, and he hated it.

Melissa deserved better, and Liam wanted to be the one to give that to her after all the joy she had made him feel. He just didn’t know how.

’Would killing them protect her?’ Liam wondered. ’What can I do for her?’

Melissa noticed the gesture, and her eyes almost went wide. She hadn’t forgotten about her new status. Honestly, that was all Melissa could think about, but she hadn’t considered whether her disregard for that vulgar attention could bring shame to her man.

Still, as Liam and Melissa both pondered how to be better partners, a door past the innkeeper’s desk opened, and the remaining lifted heads among the crowd snapped down.

’Foundation experts,’ Liam thought, his hooded head tilting in the opposite direction at the sensations that hit his perception.

A black-haired middle-aged woman wearing a brown robe bearing the same emblem from outside stood at the door’s edge, where stairs rose. She was a cultivator, and she wasn’t the only one.

Traces of Qi leaked from above the stairs. Liam couldn’t exactly distinguish between them, but his animalistic sixth sense told him that it had to have at least four sources.

It seemed Liam’s work on alchemy had improved his perception even further, but the situation progressed too quickly for him to dwell on that realization.

"Seniors, this way if you will," The middle-aged woman said, half-turning to highlight the staircase.

Melissa immediately moved, and Liam followed. The woman also began to climb the steps at their arrival, and the door closed on its own once the three were on the stairs.

The noise and air changed. Liam stopped hearing anything from beyond the entrance, and something fresher invaded his nostrils. Clearly, inscriptions were at work there, revealing why he had failed to sense the other cultivators earlier.

"The Mercenary Guild is honored to have distinguished members of the Pale Moon Sect in its humble branch," The middle-aged woman declared when reaching the other flight of stairs. "I’m Mary. I hope I can be of service."

Melissa’s robe could reveal the affiliation to the Pale Moon Sect to anyone in the know, so Liam didn’t think much about it. However, reaching the second floor added a deeper layer to the matter.

The second floor had the same innkeeper’s desk and board, but fewer tables occupied the area. Everything was also cleaner, the wooden surfaces without the faintest stain. It actually smelled nice.

Moreover, only a handful of figures occupied the tables, one pair while the other three sat separately. Everyone was a foundation expert, but they were strangely old. The youngest was a black-haired man around twenty-five, but everyone else looked above forty.

Most importantly, that handful of foundation experts felt weak, below the average outer disciple in the Pale Moon Sect. They even looked somewhat worn out, with one middle-aged man seemingly having no Qi circulating through his body.

That middle-aged man specifically allowed a deeper realization to dawn on Liam. He had been in the same state before joining the Pale Moon Sect. Actually, he could have become that very man.

’Lone cultivators,’ Liam understood, feeling as if he was seeing an alternative present, as well as a still possible future.